[Books] I need help with suggestions

I'm going away on a three week holiday pretty soon and I need a lot of books since I'll probably be reading a lot, luckily I'm saved from the agony of browsing through our local library since I have a kindle. But I'm clueless at what books I should get.

I'd really appreciate suggestions; I generally like reading novels which 'happen' in the history of the human species. I really read novels which feature the first humans to the 1980s. War also is a topic that intrigues and interests me.

So fire away.

p.s. Books I like are:
Ken Follet; Pillars of the Earth, World Without End, Fall of Giants.
Wilbur Smith; almost all of his books.
Bernard Cornwell; Azincourt.

The Warlord Saga, if you haven't read it yet, by Cornwell. Stephen Pressfield's Gates of Fire. You might also enjoy his Alexander - the Virtues of war. Whatever you do, STAY AWAY from the "Punic wars" trilogy by Ross Leckie. Seriously, it's money wasted on garbage.

edit: Sharpe's Trafalgar is really good as well. IMHO one of the best, since I do enjoy naval warfare, especially from the age of Sail. You might also want to check I, Claudius, even though the battle scenes are short and leave a lot to be desired.

Dangerous Liaison by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, the book is captivating, far better than the movies made from it.

Brave new world from Aldous huxley, it's a classic SciFi.

The Debacle from Emile Zola,

Extract from customer review from Amazon

link Written in 1891, Émile Zola's classic The Debacle, provides a ground level interpretation of what it is like see one's homeland suffer military defeat, foreign occupation and internal revolution. The Debacle covers the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 from the French viewpoint. Indeed, Zola's novel is strikingly divergent from most late-19th Century European views of warfare, which saw conflict through the prism of personal glory and national aggrandizement. This is an exceedingly grim novel, without the slightest glimmer of hope for any of the characters. Zola depicts war in all its brutal fury, including battle, arson, murder, looting, children abandoned, treachery, and starvation. Indeed, the four horsemen of the apocalypse always seem close at hand in The Debacle, and usually preceded by large doses of despair and anguish. The Debacle consists of three sections: "the trap," which covers the frontier battles between 6-30 August 1879; "the disaster," which covers the Battle of Sedan on 1-2 September 1870; and "the aftermath," which covers the period September 1870 - May 1871. Only inadequate maps and a tendency to overuse British colloquial expressions mar the Penguin edition of Zola's classic.

The name of the rose by Umberto Eco, the movie was good, but there is far more in the book.

Looks like you enjoy historical fiction. You also appear to prefer the more mainstream stuff. So I'll suggest Steven Pressfield. Gates of Fire, The Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign, and Killing Rommel are all good reads and page turners.

More medieval stuff that is a good page turner, but not a real "make you think" type of book is by Jack Whyte. He has a whole series on King Arthur.

Then there is of course the uber hot series of the moment. Song of Ice and Fire. A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast of Crows, and soon to be released A Dance with Dragons.

Originally Posted by torongill

The Warlord Saga, if you haven't read it yet, by Cornwell. Stephen Pressfield's Gates of Fire. You might also enjoy his Alexander - the Virtues of war. Whatever you do, STAY AWAY from the "Punic wars" trilogy by Ross Leckie. Seriously, it's money wasted on garbage.

edit: Sharpe's Trafalgar is really good as well. IMHO one of the best, since I do enjoy naval warfare, especially from the age of Sail. You might also want to check I, Claudius, even though the battle scenes are short and leave a lot to be desired.

I don't like fantasy (as in LOTR ) that much, and from what I saw of The Warlord Saga I'm not going to get. But thanks for the tip on Sharpe's Trafalgar, and since it's sort of a series; can you recommended me other, good, Sharpe's books? Thanks for the suggestions.

Originally Posted by John Doe

Dangerous Liaison by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, the book is captivating, far better than the movies made from it.

Brave new world from Aldous huxley, it's a classic SciFi.

The Debacle from Emile Zola,

Extract from customer review from Amazon

link Written in 1891, Émile Zola's classic The Debacle, provides a ground level interpretation of what it is like see one's homeland suffer military defeat, foreign occupation and internal revolution. The Debacle covers the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 from the French viewpoint. Indeed, Zola's novel is strikingly divergent from most late-19th Century European views of warfare, which saw conflict through the prism of personal glory and national aggrandizement. This is an exceedingly grim novel, without the slightest glimmer of hope for any of the characters. Zola depicts war in all its brutal fury, including battle, arson, murder, looting, children abandoned, treachery, and starvation. Indeed, the four horsemen of the apocalypse always seem close at hand in The Debacle, and usually preceded by large doses of despair and anguish. The Debacle consists of three sections: "the trap," which covers the frontier battles between 6-30 August 1879; "the disaster," which covers the Battle of Sedan on 1-2 September 1870; and "the aftermath," which covers the period September 1870 - May 1871. Only inadequate maps and a tendency to overuse British colloquial expressions mar the Penguin edition of Zola's classic.

The name of the rose by Umberto Eco, the movie was good, but there is far more in the book.

Thanks a lot.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledGoat

Looks like you enjoy historical fiction. You also appear to prefer the more mainstream stuff. So I'll suggest Steven Pressfield. Gates of Fire, The Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign, and Killing Rommel are all good reads and page turners.

More medieval stuff that is a good page turner, but not a real "make you think" type of book is by Jack Whyte. He has a whole series on King Arthur.

Then there is of course the uber hot series of the moment. Song of Ice and Fire. A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast of Crows, and soon to be released A Dance with Dragons.

Thanks for the first two, but I'll wait with getting Song of Ice and Fire. Since it's too fantasy for my taste.

Originally Posted by The Dutch Devil

I don't like fantasy (as in LOTR ) that much, and from what I saw of The Warlord Saga I'm not going to get. But thanks for the tip on Sharpe's Trafalgar, and since it's sort of a series; can you recommended me other, good, Sharpe's books? Thanks for the suggestions.

Oh, the warlord saga is anything but fantasy, trust me on this. The only "magic" elements in the story come from a certain character called Merlin, but as the protagonist says in one moment, even Merlin's magic usually has a logical explanation. The warlord trilogy is a historical fiction if we have to assign it a genre. It doesn'tt have a single fantasy element(well, unless you count pig bones...)

Sharpe's Company was very good for my taste. It's about the siege of Badajoz.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. And I decided to settle for a few Sharpe's books, the warlord sage and two Stephen Ambrose books which I found whilst searching earlier mentioned books.

Originally Posted by therussian

May I suggest the Accursed Kings set of novels by Maurice Druon. It's about the French Monarchy in the Middle Ages, specifically around the time of Phillipe the Fair to John II.

They may be a bit difficult to find though.

I might search for them when I get back.

Originally Posted by torongill

Oh, the warlord saga is anything but fantasy, trust me on this. The only "magic" elements in the story come from a certain character called Merlin, but as the protagonist says in one moment, even Merlin's magic usually has a logical explanation. The warlord trilogy is a historical fiction if we have to assign it a genre. It doesn'tt have a single fantasy element(well, unless you count pig bones...)

Sharpe's Company was very good for my taste. It's about the siege of Badajoz.

Ok, thanks for straightening that out. Let's hope I enjoy them.

Don't know if you've read it or not, but I enjoyed Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels quite a bit. Its about Gettysburg.

On a side note, anyone know a site where I can read books online?

May I suggest the Accursed Kings set of novels by Maurice Druon. It's about the French Monarchy in the Middle Ages, specifically around the time of Phillipe the Fair to John II.

They may be a bit difficult to find though.

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